To the Thin Women of the World – I’m Sorry

I am just going to get this out of the way – I am not at my ideal BMI. I have to shop in the Plus section of the stores most of the time. Ok, I’ll just go ahead and say it. I am … Fat. (Ouch, that was hard.)

But that is no excuse for how I have treated you, thin women.

Weight is not a competition. There is no “WIN” in comparing myself to you.

More importantly, it is not your fault that I am fat. I apologize for all the times that I have said horrible things to you because you are thin.

I never noticed this phenomenon until I caught myself saying it to a woman I had only met an hour or so earlier. There she was at the photo shoot, slender and with the most perfect abs I have ever seen, telling me how she had a 14 month old baby. I simply had to ask, “Oh, please tell me that you work out all the time!?”

I saw her cringe a little. She was almost apologetic as she told me no, she was just built that way. She had not worked out after the baby.

That was the moment that it happened. I felt the thickness of the words about to tumble out of my mouth. I managed to catch them in time, but the silence was awkward. It was obvious that I was about to say something. She looked puzzled.

I looked at the ground for a moment, and then I looked her in the eye.

“I just have to apologize, because what I almost said? It was that I hate you. That is not right. You don’t deserve that.”

She looked back at me, “It is ok. Thank you. You would be shocked at some of the things people say to me.”

As she told me some of those things, we both stood there and cried together.

I should have been shocked, but I wasn’t because I’m sure I have said them at some point as well to a thin woman. Completely oblivious to the pain I was causing her in hearing them. It was all about my pain, my shame of hating myself and my own body.

“Oh, you’re cold? Well … maybe you should eat a cheeseburger. Or a cookie. Put on some weight.”

“You have 5 pounds to lose? Hah! That is NOTHING! Be glad you’re so thin.”

“You’re so thin, I could snap you like a twig!”

And the worst one of all, “You’re so thin … I hate you.”

When did this become OK?!? At what point did we decide that we are allowed to look another woman in the eye and tell her that we hated her? Or that she should gain weight and doesn’t have a right to have body-image issues because she is thin?

Thin shaming is just as bad for women’s body image as fat shaming. Both are wrong.

Over the past few years, I’ve talked to a number of other thin women about this topic. It is something that they are experiencing on a regular basis. Some have told me their stories about how they thought it would change when they grew up, how they never expected that it would continue in to adulthood. How in ways, it is worse now because they can no longer excuse it is a playground taunt.

Everyone wants to be thin, but we vilify the women that actually ARE.

We make them outcasts. Women bond over how much we hate our bodies, the latest diet that we are on, how we will simply never have thigh gap. If you’re thin? We act as if you have no right to be a part of the tribe. You have hit it. You reached the goal we all desperately long to attain, if only we would make the life changes to get there.

So many of the messages today about being body positive are actually talking about accepting your PLUS size body. Embrace the Curves. Eff your beauty standards. Love me as I am!!! No one should say that they are fat. Love yourself no matter what your size. Stop hating your body.

But here is the reality: if we are talking about being body positive, thin women are a part of this conversation as well. Love yourself at any size? At any size means at a size 00 or a size 30.

We do not get to exclude them in this conversation. Thin women have every right to struggle with the same issues. Being Body Positive can not have a size tag attached to it.

It is time that we stop attacking the thin women of the world. Tearing another woman down is fighting the wrong battle.

I will never again tell another woman that I hate her because of how thin she is, how fabulous her hair is, how wonderful her life may be compared to mine. It is time we pull this hateful language from our vocabulary.

I would like to be the first in line to say it:

To the thin women, I AM SORRY. I see you, and I hear you, and I embrace you – exactly as you are. Come, join the conversation. Be a part of the circle. You have every right to be here.

Christine Tremoulet is an author, a social marketing strategist, and a speaker. She uses her 15 years of blogging experience (she actually named WordPress!) to help others with Blogging Brilliantly so they can use their blog and social media to share their story with the world and build their own successful business. She is the original Avenger of Sexiness. She truly believes that You Are Enough. She lives in Houston, Texas with her husband & her college-age son, when not out on an adventure. (You can follow those at Have Gear, Will Travel.) Mini Cooper is her spirit animal.

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Christine Tremoulet is an author, a social marketing strategist, and a speaker. She uses her 15 years of blogging experience (she actually named WordPress!) to help others with Blogging Brilliantly so they can use their blog and social media to share their story with the world and build their own successful business. She is the original Avenger of Sexiness. She truly believes that You Are Enough. She lives in Houston, Texas with her husband & her college-age son, when not out on an adventure. (You can follow those at Have Gear, Will Travel.) Mini Cooper is her spirit animal.

In 2010 I weighed 300 pounds , I gradually gained weight after babies and with some medical issues but also from a lack of self hate. I loved myself as a good person . Loyal wife and hard worker. I never saw the 300 pounds until my doctor told me I was slowly dying and I had babies to think about. I had weight loss surgery and in less then a year I lost 150 pounds. I can not explain the hate I got because I went from a size 26 to 2. I never felt hate when I was big, I think I was so big I was everyone else’s comfort blanket. I was always the biggest girl in the room, AND then I wasn’t. The things I could tell you that we’re said and done to me simply because I was thin, the accusations, the hate the snubs by strangers who openly admitted they assumed I was a “skinny bitch” was appalling. I felt the hate from strangers that most women feel from themselves when they are fat. I know the struggles of both sizes, I truly do . What it comes down to is no size 26 or size 2 makes you happy, or a good person. Only your character does. We should have to measure character as much as we measure the size of our bodies. Love one another for being awesome. I know plenty of unhappy skinny girls and unhappy fat girls that would trade places in an instant just to be happy.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am naturally slender, however I suffer great digestive issues that make it hard to gain weight. I get parsnickety when people comment on what I eat (because its usually healthy because of my illness) and ‘don’t lose any more weight honey’. Weight problems are hard on both sides. Progress only comes when we hear each other and lift each other up. Bravo!